Who pulled off the greater disappearing act on Sunday, Antonio Gates when the Chargers had the ball, or San Diego's defense when it coughed up the victory on 4th-and-29?

Philip Rivers targeted Gates only twice in the contest, which went deep into overtime.

Gates, who said his foot ailments are behind him, has only two catches in each of the last two games.

But it would be wrong to conclude that Gates, 32, has become too old and too slow to make plays.

The defense tells us which pass-catchers are dangerous, and both the Broncos and Ravens gave more extra attention to Gates than they did any other Chargers pass-catcher.

The Ravens were clever about it, using safeties, linebackers and cornerback Corey Graham to create a mixture of double coverages or implied double coverages.

As a decoy, Gates succeeded. Take the 21-yard scoring pass to Malcom Floyd for the Chargers' only touchdown. Gates broadened the throwing lane for Rivers by attracting both Ravens safeties, Ed Reed and Bernard Pollard.

Gates also drew two Ravens on Danario Alexander’s 26-yard reception and was on the opposite flank on the wideout’s 19-yard screen play.

Gates did have chances against solo coverage. He beat linebacker Dannell Ellerbe to catch a sideline pass, resulting in the only third-down conversion by the Chargers in their first eight tries.

At times, Gates failed to get open against only one defender. On some of those plays, Rivers lacked time because of the pass rush, or the ball went elsewhere.

Gates isn't as fast as he was in the mid-2000s, but he's still better than average as a receiver and a willing blocker.

He has fostered Alexander's emergence as the No. 2 receiver opposite Floyd, who in reality is a No. 2 himself.

Monday Morning Handoffs

Marcus Gilchrist will be disgusted as he watches film of Ray Rice’s 29-yard pass play. Of all the Chargers pursuers, Gilchrist had the best angle. Linebackers Takeo Spikes and Demorrio Williams also had a chance to ground the shifty running back.

Antoine Cason was slow to react to Rice’s progress and ultimately allowed Rice to complete the task. Tracking a receiver, the cornerback had been cleared out on the opposite sideline. Like most observers, Cason seemed to assume that the phalanx of three Chargers would ground Rice at midfield. When Rice got past them, Cason lacked urgency.

Rice's cut against the grain was one of the best I've seen, better in person than on video replay. It called to mind a surfer who is catapulted through the tube. In this case, the powder-blue Chargers were the cresting wave, unable to engulf the 5-foot-8 Rice until it was too late.

The one Charger who took a good tackling angle was Eric Weddle, but Ravens receiver Anquan Bolden picked him off. Weddle, dealt a concussion, suggested Bolden could’ve been flagged for an illegal block. At the snap, Weddle lined up 33 yards from the line of scrimmage.

All things considered, Rivers played an excellent first half and a pretty good game. He threw several sharp passes on intermediate routes, many of them in the second quarter. Rivers was smart about throwing the ball away. When rolling out or scrambling to a sideline, he showed better awareness of his limitations in footspeed, agility and arm strength. It couldn’t have been easy for him to stay poised, given how fast the Ravens sacked him early in the game.